Cooking with skewers is an ancient food preparation method that is practiced worldwide. Many types of food can be prepared on a skewer, including meats, vegetables and fruits. Skewers can provide a quick snack or a full meal. Kebabs are a popular and healthy type of skewered food that is commonly enjoyed from Southern Europe, across the Middle East and the Subcontinent to Southeast Asia. The word ‘kebab’ is derived from the Arab word ‘kabab’, meaning to fry. Kebabs can be a mix of one or more of meats, vegetables, fruits and condiments (for example, sauces). One example of this food is a lamb kebab.
Skewers of food products are cooked over or next to a flame source. The proximity to the heat source causes the foods to cook slowly, enhancing the flavor. Traditional kebabs can be prepared in an oven, over a fireplace or in a tandoor style oven. Modern conveniences, such as electric and gas ovens, provide alternatives to the heat source.
Skewers can be fashioned of wood, metal, glass or other heat-resistant materials. Metal skewers are comprised of a long shaft, a handle member and an end point. The user grasps the skewer by the handle, propels the end point into and then through the food product and moves the food along the shaft. This step is repeated until the shaft bears a load of food in the desired amount and with the desired composition. For example, a Turkish kebab includes cloves of garlic, two onions and slices of beef, all spiced and doused with lemon juice. This is then served off the skewer with tzaziki sauce and pita bread.
Conventional metal skewers are generally approximately 10 to 12 inches in length and are formed of 14- and/or 16-gauge wire. Other skewers are formed of cut sheet metal with a narrow width and thinness. Skewers can be longer, in the range of 14 to 28 or more. The thicknesses can also vary, greater or lesser. The handle member can be rolled into a ring, bent at a right angle or be provided with a handle of wood, ceramic or other heat resistant material. The end point can be a single point or forked with two or more prongs.
Skewered food is cooked in either a horizontal or a vertical orientation. Conventional modern house ovens lack the height for a proper cooking in the vertical orientation, resulting in the horizontal cooking method for most households. Cooking vertically or horizontally oriented skewers requires a support of some form to maintain each skewer in its orientation and a pan below to catch the drippings. Supports for the skewers can be hangers that engage the handle member and/or end point for a vertical orientation or props that support the skewer near the end point and handle member. A deep rectilinear pan can be a support for an array of horizontally supported kebabs in a row. Each skewer's meat load spans the pan, which in turn catches the juices. Cooking food in a vertical orientation presents advantages over the horizontal cooking method. The horizontal cooking method is one in which each food item is cooked, and its discrete juices mingle slightly with the adjacent items. Gravity pulls the juices off of each piece of the skewer load and they fall into a catch pan beneath. By contrast, in the vertical orientation, the juices flow down the skewer load, mingling as they go and enhancing the overall flavor experience. By the time the juices hit the end point and fall into the pan, they have fully mingled and passed over each food item in turn.
As stated above, horizontal cooking is disadvantageous when compared to vertical orientation cooking. First, the juices co-mingle with adjacent food juices, but do not carry further before dripping into the pan. Second, horizontal cooking requires supports at both ends of the shaft. Third, the resulting foods are not fully flavored because the juices have been limited in their comingling.
It would be desirable to provide a support structure that raises the skewer such that the juices flow down the skewer, mingling and enhancing the flavor as the juices bathe each food item. It would be further desirable to provide a structure that can be placed into conventional ovens so that the skewers are raised above the horizontal orientation and gain the benefits of skewers in a vertical orientation.